Data organization is important in relational database systems that deal with complex queries against large volumes of data. Relational database systems allow data to be stored in tables that are organized as both a set of columns and a set of rows. Standard commands are used to define the columns and rows of tables and data is subsequently entered in accordance with the defined structure. The defined table structure is logically maintained, but may not correspond to the physical organization of the data. For example, the data corresponding to a particular table may be split up among a number of physical hardware storage facilities.
Users of relational database systems require the minimum time possible for execution of complex queries against large amounts of data. Different physical types of storage, for example random access memory and hard drives, incur different length delays. In addition, writing to memory or a hard drive is often slower than reading an equivalent amount of data from memory or a hard drive. The organization of data corresponding to tables defined in a relational database system may determine the number of writes and reads that need to be performed in order to execute a common request. If the data is properly organized, performance can be improved by searching a part of the data for queries that can take advantage of that organization. If the data is not organized in a useful way for a request, it will often need to be searched in its entirety to satisfy a request or copied and restructured into a useful organization.